Re: weight and fibroids

[Guest guest]

To wanda in wonderland:

I have never read or heard that obesity is a risk for fibroids. I have

always been thin and continue to be thin. I had fibroids. I know I'm only one

person, but I have several women I know with fibroids and none of them of the 3

is overweight. I would be curious about this weight and fibroids thing too.

[Guest guest]

Well, I don't know if losing weight could help shrink fibroids, but

it got me to wondering if excess body fat might be one of the risk

factors for developing fibroids in the first place.

My understanding is that there is a relationship between fat and

estrogen, and that the amount of fat one has does impact the hormone

climate of the body. That's one of the reasons why obesity is a

risk factor for breast cancer and other estrogen-dependent tumors.

This got me to thinking and I am looking on the internet to see if

there is any research or scientific data about the relationship

between body fat and estrogen/hormones. Does anyone have information

about this? Is obesity a risk-factor for fibroids?

> Weight loss can help with naturally over weight wmen,

> ******

> Aztec, are you saying that losing weight will cause the fibroids to

> shrink? I'm not sure I understand you. Fibroids are made of

> muscle tissue -- losing weight (fat) will not have an effect on them. It

> may make the surgery easier for the surgeon...please enlighten.

>Leonie

[Guest guest]

I don't know if there is any valid data on the cause or causes of

fibroid and especially, what promotes it growth. I do know that when I

was pregnant 18 yrs ago, my OB told me that I had some fibroids and it

was common for pregnant woman's body to do so because of hormone

changes. Now, 18 yrs later, one of them grew to a peach size, and I had

a myo recently.

Now to the subject of weight: women of all sizes have fibroid. Base on

seeing many of the slim women who have fibroid, obesity is NOT a factor.

As for myself, I weight 105 lbs. I had fibroid, and my sister, who

weight 15 lbs more and is 1/2 inch taller, has no fibroid.

Jackie

Re: weight and fibroids

Well, I don't know if losing weight could help shrink fibroids, but

it got me to wondering if excess body fat might be one of the risk

factors for developing fibroids in the first place.

[Guest guest]

i have to pipe in on the weight/fibroid issue myself. i have always been

thin, my whole life. at times too thin. i have huge fibroids - several of

them

- and i have always eaten right and exercised and don't have any vices at all

except a love of chocolate desserts. so go figure- unless my fibroids grew

from my chocolate habit - i'd say there is no connection between fibroids and

weight in my case.

[Guest guest]

Wanda, I don't believe it's a risk factor for the DEVELOPMENT of

fibroids, but it may be a risk factor for their GROWTH. Below I've

copied a few paragraphs from a document called " ABNORMAL BODY WEIGHT:

A PREVENTABLE CAUSE OF INFERTILITY " from the website of the American

Society for Reproductive Medicine (www.protectyourfertility.org/)

which discusses the storage of estradiol, a strong estrogen, in body

fat. I don't know how much effect the presence of this extra

estradiol has on fibroids.

From the article:

Sex steroid hormones—testosterone (the principal male hormone) and

estradiol (the principal female hormone)—are lipid soluble, i.e.;

they dissolve in fat but not in water. Thus, these hormones

accumulate in body fat. Once body fat stores are saturated with sex

steroid hormones, they reach equilibrium with blood. In addition to

the stored source of sex steroid hormones in body fat, the gonads

secrete testosterone and estradiol to maintain the levels necessary

to sustain reproductive function.

In addition to the storage capacity of body fat for sex steroid

hormones, adipose cells (fat cells) convert the weak male hormone,

androstenedione, to the weak female hormone, estrone. Estrone,

though not as potent as estradiol, has metabolic effects on the

hypothalamic-pituitary axis of the brain (the area of the brain that

regulates testicular and ovarian function) to alter reproductive

function...

There are differential metabolic pathways for estradiol metabolism in

women depending on body weight. Slender women metabolize estradiol

to 2-hydroxyestrone—an antiestrogen; obese women metabolize estradiol

to estriol—a weak estrogen. The rate of metabolic change seems to

correlate with the percent of body fat of total body mass. Thus,

slender women progressively " turn down " the reproductive cycle until

it is " turned off " when the condition of anorexia nervosa (defined as

less than 85% of predicted ideal body weight for height) is reached.

On the other hand, obese women progressively increase their alternate

estrogens—estrone and estriol—until ovulation ceases and they become

infertile. It is ironic that both thin and obese women develop

irregular reproductive cycles, but by entirely different mechanisms.

Thin women are estrogen deficient whereas obese women have an excess

of estrogen but do not cycle on a regular basis.

Leonie

> Well, I don't know if losing weight could help shrink fibroids, but

> it got me to wondering if excess body fat might be one of the risk

> factors for developing fibroids in the first place.

>

[Guest guest]

I think it is possible that fibroids to add weight to the body. Fibroids

retain fluid. I did

gain weight as a result of fibroids. After my myo the weight began to

decrease. I do think there is a connection.

K